In their daily work, many types of workers need to carry equipment with them. For doing so, different types of belt assemblies have been proposed in the prior art.
In the case of police officers, which need to carry a gun, a flashlight, pepper spray and sometimes other equipment as well, the typical belt assembly used is based on a thick leather belt, on which various containers are slid along. Although such belt assembly has proven its sturdiness over the years, it is not particularly convenient for fast removal of containers, as the leather belt is used to simultaneously support the containers, while passing through loops of a wearer's pants. Additionally, this type of belt assembly has been identified as the main cause of preventable back, hip and thigh injuries caused by poorly distributed and misallocated wearable weight. Because of its intrinsic mechanical properties, the thickness of leather belt has to be sufficient to support the equipment securely in various situations: standing, sitting, walking, running, etc. To prevent excessive lagging, the leather belt needs to be thick enough and thus is quite rigid, which is not comfortable when used in a sitting position, and adds pressure to a back of a wearer and may result in an injury.
Canadian patent no. 2,254,626 to Safariland Ltd. describes a track member system to carry equipment around a waist of a wearer. More particularly, this system is composed of an internal belt and an external belt equipped to affix containers. The internal belt and external belt are equipped with matching fabric loop/hoop, such as Velcro™, to allow a tight bonding therebetween. Containers can be affixed to the external belt, which is equipped of tracks. Both the external belt track system and container attachment are rigid. A clamp is used to secure the container in a specific position on the exterior belt. Although this track member system can be quickly removed, and the containers can be affixed to the exterior belt, such system is not comfortable in bending and sitting positions because of the rigidity of the exterior belt track system and containers.
Canadian patent no. 2,354,814 to Hand tools International describes a belt assembly for storing and inventorying tools. This assembly is composed of a belt onto which containers are slid. The belt is thus rapidly removable. However, the containers are free of sliding along the belt, which is not convenient for workers such as police officers or electricians when they store their gear between and after uses.
There is therefore a need for a belt assembly that is capable of carrying various types of interchangeable various types of containers and equipment more ergonomically, while being removable rapidly.